The Bulgarian NGDO Platform in the making

Information provided by Asya Bocheva, former TRIALOG Policy Officer and Yvonne Kojuharova, C.E.G.A. Foundation

A year after the initial visit to Bulgaria, Christine Bedoya and Asya Bocheva from TRIALOG came back to Sofia in April 2007 in order to support local NGOs in their efforts to establish a national platform. After preliminary consultations, a general meeting was convened that gathered together the NGOs active in the work of the platform. In the discussion regarding the state of play in the platform, it was agreed to officially register and next steps were planned and undertaken soon after. A task force was designated to be in charge of the preparation of the Statute and the Memorandum of Understanding. It was agreed that the new co-ordinator will preferably not come from an existing NGO. Different options will be explored for an office space for the new platform. The participants set a date in May 2007 for the platform constituency meeting.

It took place on May 16 and the following decisions have been taken:- The statute was discussed and accepted in a vote.
- The structure was set: General Assembly, Executive Board, coordinator. It is foreseen to have regular and associated members.
- The Executive Board (EB) can create working groups on concrete issues and areas of activities. It will also suggest detailed criteria for platform membership. The question who will be eligible to be a platform member was discussed deeply in the meeting. The number of the members of the EB will be 7, with a rotation rule for EB members.

The next meeting was held on May 28 to finalize all documents which are needed for the legal registration which is about to happen in June.